When the Mackie family moved from New Zealand to Sydney, Australia, they found themselves with a heaping pile of cardboard boxes. What to do with all the trash?

Parents Leon and Lilly decided to create a movie scene with the boxes and let their 10-month-old baby star in the show. Their first creation featured the 2004 Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic, and they re-created the classic scene where the eccentric oceanographer Steve Zissou, played by Bill Murray, sports a red beanie at the wheel of the yellow submarine.

They snapped a picture of their cardboard set with their baby playing the role of Zissou and threw it out into the social media world. People wanted more. This was great because they found that putting together cardboard sets was a way to pass time while their baby was napping.

The couple now manages a blog titled Cardboard Box Office and they’ve completed 15 photo shoots featuring movies ranging from Jaws to Die Hard. The charming images have been a huge hit and garnered media attention across the globe.

“The media attention has been overwhelming – from The Today Show to financial papers to Disney,” Lilly told SFGate.

“Leon’s favourite message was one from NASA saying that they were enjoying the photos. It’s quite funny to think of a bunch of astrophysicists examining our makeshift space capsule in Apollo 13.

“We have received some really lovely messages from people saying that they were alone over the Christmas break and that our photos brought a smile to their face. I think that’s what we appreciate the most.”

Leon and Lilly welcome suggestions from their fans and say the majority of the requests are for movies from the 70s and 80s. “I think people like nostalgia,” Lilly says. “Those decades are a treasure trove. There were just so many ridiculously fun and original movies over that period. So it makes a lot of sense.”

Check out some of Leon and Lilly’s creations below and find more on their blog Cardboard Box Office. Lilly says her favorite creation yet will go up tomorrow. “Everything about it just works and it was really fun for us all to do,” Lilly says. “We were staying at my mum’s house in Christchurch, New Zealand, so all the stuff we used was hers (mostly her linen).”